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Transcript

Why are male and female suicide rates so different?

DR. THOMAS INSEL: You know, if you look at what we know about heart disease, particularly heart attacks, when they present in men and women, you get a whole different array of symptoms. So the nature of the pain, the symptoms that come with the pain, all of that looks very different depending upon whether you're male or female.

It's a little bit the same in depression. Men are more likely to be irritable. They're more likely to have a range of somatic symptoms. And yes, they're less likely to go for treatment. They're much more likely to die of suicide related to depression, about four times more likely than women, though they make fewer suicide attempts. The rate of actually dying from those attempts is so much greater in men.